It's My Duty
by JediPanda22
Summary: Set during World War II, Young Kad Kirk has had enough of war. With his girl in trouble back home he is torn between staying and leaving. When the opportune moment to desert is upon him will Kad able to go through with it?


Summary: Set during World War II, Young Kad Kirk has had enough of war. With his girl in trouble back home he is torn between staying and leaving. When the opportune moment to desert is upon him will Kad able to go through with it?

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It's My Duty

Explosions were going off everywhere, so loud that it made everyone on the base stand on edge. The Germans had taken the Allies by complete surprise. The only thing keeping the Germans from swift victory were the brave soldiers defending the front lines.

Everyone, except for Kad Kirk, who was running against the tide of men and uniforms. The orders were clear. Defend the front lines- no surrender. At the moment, only the injured stayed behind. Everyone else was to report to the front, including Kad. But, he had plans of his own. After a year and a half of war, he was done. He never fancied the idea of being drafted from the beginning. The only reason he was there was because of Keren. She had coaxed him into going. Every time he went into battle he believed that was the best way to protect her. Now for Keren, again, Kad was about to leave the war behind and go to her

As he kept running against the tide, he placed a hand over his chest pocket, the pocket which held his last letter from her. It had taken months of wrestling with himself to come to the decision to dessert the army, but with the surprise attack on Luxembourg it was the final push Kad needed. With no word from Keren, he now expected the worst…

_Was she dead? Was she captured? Had she become a victim of the Holocaust? Was she in one of those dreadful camps? _

Upon hearing that the Nazis were a mere hundred miles away from his homeland in Belgium, it was impossible to keep those kinds of thoughts out of his mind. All he knew was, he had to get to her.

With his lungs on fire he finally made it to the barracks and stepped inside to a relatively quiet and eerie room. Without looking around Kad ran over to his bunk and started filling his survival pack with everything he owned- which wasn't much. To keep his sanity intact he started talking to himself, "I'm on my way Keren. I'll soon be there to protect you. It's my duty."

He was almost done stuffing his meager belongings into his beat-up duffel when he heard a French accent answer back to his Belgian one. "Who is Keren?"

Kad dropped everything and looked around the room, searching for a voice he hoped was just in his imagination. Either a blessing or a curse, Kad would never know, but directly across from his bunk sat his French buddy, Rudy Bonhomme. Kad stared at the blond haired and blue-eyed young man before picking up his dropped possessions.

With no answer, the ever curious Rudy asked again, "Well… who is this Keren?"

An explosion rocked the barracks and Kad sped up his packing and his talking. "She is my girl back home and she is in trouble," Kad swung his bag over his shoulders while Rudy scooted closer to the end of the bed.

Rudy replied, "What kind of trouble?"

"She is Jewish," was all Kad could say.

"Ah I see… so you are just going to leave?" There is a battle to be fought." Rudy replied while wrapping his recently wounded leg.

Kad sighed, shook his head and then headed for the door as Rudy got out of bed and blocked his way.

Through a clenched jaw and Kad said, "This isn't my fight anymore."

Dark, frustrated, brown eyes met confused, determined, blue eyes. Rudy quietly said, "But we are counting on you."

Kad quickly replied, "Keren is counting on me more."

He then looked away from Rudy and then reluctantly looked back. When he did he wished he hadn't, Rudy's sad eyes mixed with that crestfallen look of despair on his face, Kad was sure that this was what a disappointed son would look like.

For the rest of his life, that look would always haunt him.

An explosion rocked the barracks again and this time the lights flickered and Rudy lost his balance. Had Kad not been there Rudy would have fallen onto the hard unforgiving floor. Kad helped Rudy back onto his bed then walked over to the gun rack. With rifle in hand and duffle over his back, Kad was walking over towards his gate to freedom, when Rudy decided to talk.

"Thank you comrade, I… I hope your motives for desertion are the same as your act of servitude just a moment ago."

"What?" was Kad's only reply as he turned around to face Rudy who was once again sitting up on the bunk. Knowing Rudy had Kad's attention; Rudy chose his next words very carefully. "When I fell, you came over to help me, yes? If you would have just left me you could be well on your way to safety right now, but you aren't"

Kad shrugged and walked over to Rudy's bed, "Well, sure, it was my duty."

Rudy nodded, "Yes it was… is deserting your duty?"

Kad nodded and answered without hesitation, "Yes. Keren is my duty. I'm not protecting her here."

Rudy just nodded and sat there as another explosion rocked the barracks and the lights flickered. With that said, Kad got up and was about to start heading for the door when Rudy reached out and got Kad's attention once again. With determination and courage in both eyes and voice, Rudy firmly stated,

"It only takes one selfish person to ruin the plan, but one selfless person to save it."

When Rudy had finished talking he relaxed on his bed, but never took his eyes off Kad.

Before either of the young men could say something the door burst open and the one and only Lieutenant Gregor stood in the door frame. He looked around the small room, then zoned in on the only two people in the room and barked, "You two, on your feet, to the front on the double!"

Without thinking Kad dropped his duffle and walked over to Lieutenant Gregor, "Sir, this man is injured. He can't possibly-"

He was cut short when Gregor took one step closer and glared down at Kad and simply and loudly stated, "You TWO on your feet and to the front on the double!" With that he simple turned on his heels and ran off to the next barracks.

Kad turned around and almost ran into Rudy who was limping towards the gun rack fully-dressed in his army gear. Kad put his hands on top of Rudy's shoulders. "What do you think you are doing?"

Another explosion rocked the bunker and Rudy had to hold onto Kad to still be standing. When he was steady again he looked at Kad and just simply said, "This is my duty."

Kad just stood there in shock then finally said, "Well, sure it's everyone's, but you're injured! You're still recovering from the last battle! You're-"

Rudy abruptly interrupted him while reaching for a gun on the rack, "I know comrade, but this is not about me."

Kad was about to argue more when Rudy put a hand on his shoulder and he heard a French voice in his head, _"It only takes one man to ruin the plan, but one man to save it."_

When he came out his little trance, Rudy was gone and he was alone. He thought about Rudy a second more then went back and got his duffle and ran out the door.

It wasn't hard to find an exit from the base, but with bombs exploding everywhere and dust, yelling and bombs coming from every possible direction, escape was no walk in the park. Kad ran any way he thought was the way to safety while avoiding explosions yet somehow he found himself on the front lines. As he was about to lose all hope of ever escaping that battle field, Kad looked up to the sky and to his relief saw the sun starting to set through the smoke.

Now knowing which way was west Kad started running north with renewed hope of escape. He had only gone a little ways when a near miss with a bomb sent him soaring through the air and no feeling where his right arm used to be. He landed with a heavy thud a few meters away from the explosion site. In too much shock to do anything, he just laid there, gradually and silently slipping into unconsciousness.

Too numb to feel anything he watched the sun set before closing his eyes. He felt nothing. He was slowly slipping away. He didn't care, at least until in the dark void of nothing one lone figure stood in front of him. A beautiful, petite, brown-eyed girl with gorgeous brown hair was looking at him. Keren, she was reaching out to him urging him to get up, to come to her. Kad knew he couldn't die, Keren was waiting for him. He woke up then looked for what was left of the sun, and when he found it he forced himself to get up and start running north, towards Belgium, towards Keren. He stumbled and fell quite a lot, but he kept going. Nothing would keep him from Keren.

He could almost tell he was off the field when the noises of bombs exploding were behind him. He could see the smoke clearing. He was almost off the field, into the warm embrace of safety until he tripped over something. He grumbled under her breath and he looked at what he tripped over. Kad tried to shake the shock off his face but he couldn't. There was Rudy lying on the filthy battle field looking up to the sky with his empty baby blue eyes and a bloody hole in his chest.

Kad crawled over and close his comrade's eyes for his final sleep. Kad dipped his head in respect for his fallen friend when the found started to rumble, he looked around and got loser on the ground. As he was getting settled he saw what was making all the commotion. A German Tiger I tank was rolling towards him. Kad had to squint to see the Nazi swastika on the front of the might hunk of metal. He was about to make a run for it when he heard that little French voice in his head, _"It only takes one selfish person to ruin the plan, but one selfless person to save it."_

Kad closed his eyes and knew what he had to do. It was his duty. He looked around for anything and just by sure luck he found a bag of explosives on the other side of Rudy. With the rifle and explosives next to him he laid low until the tank had rolled passed him. After it rolled past, he once again forced himself up and with the bag of explosives over his back and rifle in hand he ran to catch up to the tank. When he was within jumping distance it only took one mighty jump to get up onto the hull of the tank. Kad caught his breath and for a moment looked up to the sky and whispered, "Thank you Rudy. Keren… I will always be with you." Then without thinking and more on auto pilot Kad opened the turret hatch then tossed the explosives inside and raised his gun. One sole tear escaped him as he let the bullet fly.

He first saw the bullet hit its target, then he heard the angry German voices mere seconds before the sound of an explosion then he felt nothing more.


End file.
